Wastewater operators and Laboratory personnel can get to talking and using acronyms that people not in the industry might not understand. So, here are a few used among us here at the plant:
- Mean Cell Residence Time (MCRT): The average time that a microbe is in the treatment process before being removed.
- Sludge Volume Index (SVI): A measure of the ability of sludge to settle
- Food to Microorganism Ratio (F/M): A ratio to determine the balance of food and microorganisms in the treatment process.
- Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids (MLSS): Total amount of organic and inorganic material in suspension.
- Mixed Liquor Volatile Suspended Solids (MLVSS): Fraction of MLSS that indicates organic solids
- Total Suspended Solids (TSS): The sum of all insoluble particles suspended in water.
- Biochemical Oxygen Demand or Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD5): Amount of oxygen used by organisms over a 5 day period.
- Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD): Amount of oxygen used to oxidize all organic compounds.
- Waste Activated Sludge (WAS): Sludge that is removed once its life cycle has ended.
- Dissolved Oxygen (D.O.): Measurement of the amount of oxygen dissolved in water.